Every year thousands of monkeys are shipped around the world for the research industry. Monkeys are packed into small wooden crates and travel in the cargo hold of passenger and cargo airplanes. They are sensitive animals, easily stressed and may become ill or even die in transit. Delays, poor ventilation, noise and temperature fluctuations can add to their misery.

Yet, the life of torment for these monkeys doesn’t begin on board the airplane to laboratories. Cruelty and suffering are an intrinsic part of the trade. Some monkeys are taken from the wild, ripped from their family groups and homes. Others are the offspring of wild-caught individuals caught in the wild and forced into captivity in large-scale farms, their babies taken from them to feed the research industry. Most of these animals are kept imprisoned in concrete pens; a far cry from living freely in their jungle homes.

However, Air France, continues to be the only known European passenger airline still engaged in this cruel trade; in particular transporting monkeys from Mauritius to the laboratories of the US and Europe. Its CEO recently defended the airline’s transportation of monkeys for laboratory research.

So, next time you are travelling on an Air France airplane, please spare a thought for who may be imprisoned in the cargo hold below your feet, terrified and alone and a very long way from home.